


footloose

by worstgirl



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz, We Know the Devil (Visual Novel)
Genre: Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Internalized Biphobia, M/M, Multi, Stagedorks, Upstage, allusions to christian imagery, angsty ending ish, but its gonna happen eventually, deere, dillinjer - Freeform, dorky upstage, jake likes girls just wanna have fun, jakemine??, knowing wktd isn’t necessary to read this fic btw, platonic boyf riends - Freeform, they’re not explicitly poly, we know the devil au, what does everyone else call poly jake/jer/christine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-12
Updated: 2020-08-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 22:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,152
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25863022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worstgirl/pseuds/worstgirl
Summary: Jeremy couldn’t help but softly start singing the words, his foot tapping against the mattress. “Been workin, so hard, been punching, my card.” He mumbled, thinking that he wouldn’t be heard.And then Jake looked over his shoulder at him, and gave a huge grin that made all of Jeremy’s insides turn to mush. “C’mon, you need to let loose a little.”~~~or, group north finds a decent radio station.
Relationships: Christine Canigula/Jake Dillinger/Jeremy Heere, Jake Dillinger & Christine Canigula, Jake Dillinger/Jeremy Heere, Jeremy Heere & Christine Canigula, Jeremy Heere & Jake Dillinger, Jeremy Heere & Jake Dillinger & Christine Canigula, Jeremy Heere & Michael Mell (mentioned), Jeremy Heere/Christine Canigula
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	footloose

The cabin for Group North wasn’t the nicest. Well, considering that there was a perfect hole in the floorboards for Jake to stab his radio into the floor, that was to be expected. 

Static filled the cabin, mingling with the sound of water dripping in the corner. Jeremy wondered vaguely how it even got there, considering that it hadn’t rained in nearly a week. He didn’t want to think about what else it could be. At Summer Scouts, it could be anything from blood to ichor to incense to rainwater to orange juice from the mess hall. 

“Come on, what does it take to get a decent signal here?” Jake muttered, fiddling with the dials to change the station, trying to avoid breaking another diode. The captain was mad at them for getting more of them, even though it was mostly Jeremy needing replacements. “I just want a normal song that’s not all about the overwhelming power of Jesus.” 

Christine snorted from the next bed over. Jeremy was always a little confused about the rules for this camp. Why was a single curtain between girls and boys beds enough to constitute as separation? Seriously, he knew that a lot of the kids here weren’t exactly struggling with underage sex and getting pregnant, but it made no sense. “Good luck with that one.” She said, shutting the book Jeremy was convinced she’d read from cover to cover. It was impressive, since she usually bounced from topic to topic at the speed of a pinball machine, but that specific book was enough to keep her occupied for hours on end. “I think they block all the signals that they don’t like. Because of course it’s not enough that we’re stuck here for a month and a half, we’re also not allowed to have decent music.” 

“Hold on, I think I got something.” Jake’s voice seemed to light up, and Jeremy had to look away from him before he felt that odd residual static shock, like he always did when he thought about… how happy his voice sounded. “Yes!”

A few notes of music came out of the speakers of Jake’s radio. His fingers fumbled a little with the wires, and the station connected, the high pitched tones of Cyndi Lauper’s voice coming through. “Fuck yes, this is so much better than I was hoping.” 

Christine shut her book, laughing. “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? Is better than you were hoping?” She said, sounding thoroughly amused. 

“Hey, don’t trash Cyndi, this is a classic!” Even Jeremy couldn’t help a small grin, but he ducked his head when he saw Christine looking at him, his cheeks red. Maybe if Jake could get a radio signal, he could get a phone signal. He doubted they were anything close to the same thing, but he could hope. 

Jake started singing along, and despite him not being able to hit a good amount of the notes, his voice was nice. Jeremy tried not to focus on that. 

Christine was on her feet by this point, her socks sliding over the floorboards. Jeremy was surprised none of them had splinters at this point. He was convinced that the bunks had bed bugs. And then she started dancing, her skirt flaring out, and Jeremy had to look away again, pulling his knees tighter to his chest. What was wrong with him? 

When he glanced up from his phone again, trying for the twelfth time in the past half hour to send a text to Michael, Christine and Jake were dancing together. He wondered why he felt that weird bubbly feeling in his gut. They made an odd couple, with their height difference, but it was nice watching them. Something about the way they danced, the way they smiled, the way Christine expertly avoided Jake stepping on her feet, made Jeremy want to smile. 

Then the song ended, and it shifted to a song Jeremy knew. Christine immediately lit up, grinning. “Oh my god, you picked the best station, Jake.” Technically, they weren’t supposed to use their real names, but none of them took that rule too seriously. It was supposed to keep them from keeping in contact at the end of the summer, but… everyone Jeremy knew there ignored that. 

Jeremy couldn’t help but softly start singing the words, his foot tapping against the mattress. “Been workin, so hard, been punching, my card.” He mumbled, thinking that he wouldn’t be heard. 

And then Jake looked over his shoulder at him, and gave a huge grin that made all of Jeremy’s insides turn to mush. “C’mon, you need to let loose a little.” He held out a hand, and Jeremy was so tempted to take it, but his entire face flushed red and he shook his head instead. 

“I don’t— I don’t dance, I’d just trip—“ He said, trying to make excuses, but then he felt Christine plucking his phone from his hand and dropping it gently on the bed, taking his hand in its place. 

Her hand was warm. She was holding his hand. Oh, god. She was tugging at his hand, trying to pull him up. “Jake’s right, come on, the station could go away any minute.” And then Jake was taking his other hand, and he was tugged to his feet. “The whole point of Footloose is letting loose and dancing, Jer, you’d be disgracing the name of Ren McCormack if you didn’t dance.” 

“You actually know the names of the characters?” Jake sounded a little impressed. “I only know the song.” 

Jeremy thought Christine was going to launch into an explanation of the entire plot of Footloose, but she was distracted by the chorus kicking in. And Jeremy was pulled into their tiny dance circle. Christine let go of his hand first. She danced better than both him and Jake, which was to be expected. She had told Jeremy that she was in a theater club at her school during the school year, and he didn’t doubt she’d memorized the choreography from the entire Footloose show for fun. Jake was definitely more modern, but he moved in a way that basically screamed that he didn’t care about what people thought about him. 

Jeremy, on the other hand, looked like a baby deer with broken legs when he tried to dance, especially when Jake’s hand was still in his. He jerked his hand away, intending on crawling back onto his probably bug infested bed, amidst Christine and Jake’s very confident, slightly dorky dancing and singing. But Jake didn’t let him, grabbing both of his wrists, pulling him back in. “Nuh-uh, you’re not hiding.” He said, jokingly threatening, but his grin made his eyes shimmer. “I know you were singing, and you can’t deny the magic that is Footloose. Dance with us, just this once?” 

Dance with them. This was most definitely against the rules. Not that it was a good rule system, but he was already toeing the line, and he didn’t exactly want to get in more trouble. He was just trying to keep them out of the cabin in the woods. “I mean—“

“It can’t hurt, Jeremy!” Christine piped up from behind him, and Jeremy thought he was going to absolutely combust when she tossed her arms around his shoulders, going on her tiptoes to rest her chin on his shoulder. “Dance with us! We won’t laugh at you, promise.” 

Jeremy ducked out of their grasp, feeling like his cheeks were bright red. “Okay, fine, fine, I’ll dance with you guys.” He managed not to stutter too much through that. That was good! Fine. It was just dancing. 

He started awkwardly shuffling, reminded of him and Michael dancing to the Grease soundtrack when they were thirteen. Jeremy couldn’t help but smile a bit, and when Jake took his hands again, he didn’t protest. He kept his eyes on their hands and feet for a bit, singing under his breath. Jake lifted his hand and spun him around, and Jeremy caught a glimpse of him grinning over his head at Christine. Jeremy almost toppled over, before he was caught by Christine, and he was surprised to find that he was laughing. Had he laughed for real since they came to the camp? He didn’t know. But he liked it, and he liked the way Christine’s hand felt in his, and the way he didn’t feel like he was being forced to do this. 

For the first time in a while, Jeremy felt like he belonged somewhere. He hadn’t felt like this since before his parent’s split. Even with Michael, something felt a little disconnected. Not any fault of Michael’s, of course. It wasn’t like Michael tried to do anything of the sort. But right now, his converse squeaking a bit on the floorboards, singing along to the eighties music funneling through the speakers of Jake’s radio stuck in the floor, he felt like he was connected to something, to someone. 

“You’ve got to turn me around!” Jake sang, Christine echoing the next line. Jeremy was more than happy to let them do it, listening to their voices was nice. 

And then he made the fully embarrassing executive decision to get too into the song, singing the next lyric. “I’m cutting it loose!” It was louder than he’d meant it to be, and Jake and Christine’s faces whirled around to look at him. He nearly dissolved into his cardigan, literally trying to hide in it. 

Christine reached out, pulling his hands down and squishing his cheeks. “Oh my god, you’re so adorable!” 

Jeremy’s entire face flushed, and he was sure Christine could feel it. “I’m— I am not— what?” He stammered, looking embarrassed. 

“Dude, you totally are!” The song was still playing in the background, but both of them seemed far more interested in making Jeremy want the floorboards to splinter under him and plunge him into the deepest abyss of the earth. 

“N-No, Christine’s the cute one, you’re the hot one, I’m the weird one!” He had figured that it was easy to tell. Then he realized he’d called Jake hot, and Christine cute, and— oh, god, if the Devil existed, Jeremy bet that he was a goner. 

Both of them exchanged looks, and Jeremy felt like he was going to dissolve into a puddle of cardigan and awkwardness, before they both grinned at him. “Jer, we’re all at a camp for Christian bad kids, I don’t think you’re the weirdest one out of all of us.” Christine’s voice was soft, and sweet, and Jeremy kind of wanted it to stop. Was she being patronizing, or was she just nice?

Jeremy was tempted to say that he was. They weren’t supposed to be there, and neither was he, but he was there for a worse reason than either of them. But that seemed a bit awkward to say with Footloose playing in the background. 

“Come on, you’re very cute. And I am very hot.” Jake winked at Jeremy, and Jeremy had to swallow back an awkward noise of embarrassment. “And so is Chris.” 

Jeremy felt like he was going to implode, but he took a step back, running into Jake’s radio, making it fall over. The signal was lost, Kenny Loggins’ voice fading into static. He’d ruined it. “Oh, god, sorry, I just— I’m—“ He had just ruined it, the perfect moment in time, all because he couldn’t take a fake compliment. At least, he felt like it was fake. “Sorry, I’m going to— to bed.” He pulled the radio up from the floor, pushing it into Jake’s hands, before he disappeared into his bed on the bottom bunk, fixing the blanket he’d put up as a curtain. He could feel the awkwardness of Jake and Christine looking at each other amongst the static. 

The static cut off, and Jeremy curled up in a ball. “Jer—“ Jake started, before something stopped him. He heard Christine mumble something, and he felt even worse. He picked up his phone from the sheets. Still no service, as always. He set the phone down again, staring at the slats of Jake’s bed above his. 

He sat up for a moment, moving the blanket curtain for a moment to pull his bag out from under his bed. He changed behind it, like he always did. No one wanted to see that, not even him. When he was curled up in his hoodie and shorts, he let his eyes close, trying not to let his mind linger on the feeling of Jake and Christine’s hands in his, and the sound of Jake’s laugh, and the way Christine’s skirt flared out, and— he turned over, covering his ears with his thin pillow. The last thing he felt before falling asleep was the static shock of shame, mixed with a sort of soft calm. And if he dreamed about all those things, nobody needed to know. 

**Author's Note:**

> y’all miss me? it’s not like i haven’t posted in uhh two months or anything. but anyways!! i’m doin okay i just haven’t been writing much fanfic, or if i have, it’s so far from finished. so have a rarepair with an obscure au of my own creation. 
> 
> anyways!! hope y’all are doing okay and that you enjoyed this, it’s time for me to go back into hiding. i’ll be on tumblr a little more now, if any of y’all wanna shoot me a message, it’s rebuke-me. can’t guarantee anything though,,, but yeah!! dorky upstage are cute. 
> 
> stay safe, and stay wonderful, loves. peace out. 
> 
> ~percy


End file.
